Stockton police officer shoots, wounds shovel-wielding suspect

STOCKTON - Police shot a man who allegedly charged officers with a shovel Tuesday night in a north Stockton neighborhood, authorities said.

Jason Anderson

STOCKTON - Police shot a man who allegedly charged officers with a shovel Tuesday night in a north Stockton neighborhood, authorities said.

The shooting occurred shortly after 8:30 p.m. in the 7300 block of Tristan Circle near Village Green Drive, just south of East Hammer Lane and east of Lorraine Avenue, said Officer Joe Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.

Officers responded to the location on a report of a family disturbance, Silva said. When they arrived, they were confronted by a 22-year-old man who was armed with a shovel, Silva said.

"He charged at officers," Silva said. "One of the officers fired his weapon, striking the suspect, who was taken to a hospital to be treated."

Police did not disclose the man's condition Tuesday and did not release the name of the officer involved in the shooting, but no officers were injured, authorities said. Silva said the Police Department has invoked a multiagency protocol investigation to review the case.

Residents said they heard three to four gunshots followed by the sound of police cars and paramedics streaming into the neighborhood. Robert Seward Sr. and Robert Seward Jr. said they went outside after hearing three gunshots and saw a man lying on the grass in front of a home across the street. The man appeared to have been shot in the stomach, they said.

"I heard the shots and I came outside, because I thought they sounded awfully close," Seward Sr. said. "I saw somebody laying over there. I thought he was dead until (paramedics) started working on him, and then he started groaning."

Elizabeth Diaz said her nerves were shaken by the shooting.

"It's scary," she said. "We have three kids, and sometimes we go to the store about this time. To have something like this happen right outside your house, it freaks you out a little bit."